1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sports article adapted to cooperate with footwear, such as a boot. The sports article includes a sports apparatus and a lateral guide element for the rear portion of the boot. A sports apparatus of this type can be a cross-country ski, a snowshoe, an alpine ski for ski touring or telemark skiing.
2. Background Information
To ensure good lateral support of a boot relative to a sports apparatus to which it is connected, a solution has been known to affix a lateral guide element to the top surface of the sports apparatus. Such a guide element includes at least one rib adapted to cooperate with a groove extending along the bottom surface of the boot sole when the boot is supported on the sports apparatus, that is to say, when the sole is parallel to the top surface of the sports apparatus. It is important that the rear portion of the boot be guided in order to provide more effective lateral support. To this end, the lateral guide element must be positioned so that the groove in the sole cooperates with the rib of the lateral guide element in the area of the heel. Beyond this zone, guiding is not necessary. Extending the rib beyond the heel, merely adds mass that weighs down the sports apparatus, which can disturb the balance of the sports apparatus. For this reason, adjusting the longitudinal position of the lateral guiding element as a function of boot size is desirable.
Historically, lateral guide elements are affixed to the top surface of the ski using nails or screws penetrating the core of the ski. To position these guide elements, the assembler uses a boot size-specific template. Therefore, the assembler must have as many templates as boot sizes to be able to adjust the position of the lateral guide element relative to the various boot sizes. Once the lateral guide element has been assembled, it is no longer possible to change the longitudinal position of the element without drilling into the sports apparatus once again, at the risk of weakening it. Moreover, it is not possible to adjust the longitudinal position of the lateral guide element even slightly. Indeed, the proximity of the attachment holes, fore or aft of the adjustment, can weaken the grip of the lateral guide element on the sports apparatus.
To overcome this problem, certain ski binding manufacturers have designed longitudinally adjustable lateral guide elements.
For example, patent document FR 2 623 094 and related document U.S. Pat. No. 5,088,756 disclose a lateral guide apparatus including a rib, the rear end of which is comprised of dividable sections enabling the length of the rib to be adjusted. Consequently, the length of the guiding rib can be adjusted so as to end in the area of the heel of the boot. To make a lateral guide element compatible with a plurality of boot sizes, it must be made as long as the largest boot size. This leads to the use of a lateral guide element that is longer than necessary for guiding the boot and therefore more costly to manufacture. Moreover, the design is a compromise between the rigidity of the rib, necessary for good lateral support, and the fragility necessary to enable the unnecessary dividable sections to be easily cut out. This compromise naturally brings about disadvantages inherent in the choice preferred.